How to Train Your Dragon-Role Reversal
by JurassicJane
Summary: It says it in the title. How to Train Your Dragon where Astrid is the clumsy viking and Hiccup is the best warrior on Berk
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

An Island becomes in view on the horizon.

This is Berk

It's twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing death. It's located solidly on the meridian of misery.

My village, in a word, sturdy. It's been here for seven generations but every single building is new.

We have fishing, hunting and a charming view of the sunsets.

A herd of sheeps are grazing on a clearing.

The only problems are the pests.

One of the sheeps is taken away by something.

You see, most places have mice, or mosquitos,

We have...

A young girl, around the age of fifteen, opens the door to her house only to slam it shut when a blast of fire comes hurling at her.

"Dragons." she mutters to herself.

Dragons are setting fire to the clearings and taking sheeps as pray.

Most people would leave. Not us, we're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues.

A dragon with sharp horns takes a sheep, then a Viking jumps, grabbing the sheep and trying to take it back.

Another Viking is being carried by a small dragon with short wings.

The girl runs out of her burning house and into the chaos.

My name's Astrid.

Astrid starts ducking and dodging all the dragons and Vikings.

Great name, I know, but it's not the worst.

Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls.

Like are charming Viking demeanor wouldn't do that.

Astrid is knocked to the ground by a Viking.

"Aaaarrrrgggghhhh" He says, but then realizes who she is, his face gets a bright smile and he says in a cheery voice "Mornin'."

Astrid soon gets up and and starts running up the stairs as Vikings are all telling her things she's heard many times before.

"What're you doing' here?"

"Get back inside."

"Get out."

"Get back inside."

Just as Astrid is about to run into a line of fire, someone pulls her back by her shirt.

"Astrid! What she doin' out agai-" he starts to ask but then looks right at her and says "What are you doin' out? Get Inside." He pushes her away and looks to the sky.

That's Stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe.

They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragons head clean off it's shoulders

Stoick picks up a wagon and throws it at a nearby dragon, knocking it down.

Do I believe it? Yes I do

Stoick turns around to another Viking.

"What have we got?" Stoick asks the Viking.

"Gronckles, Nadders, Zipplebacks, oh and Hoark says he saw a Monstrous Nightmare." He Replies.

A dragon shoots fire nearby them.

The Viking ducks out of the way while Stoick just simply brushes off some ember on his shoulder.

Stoick still looking in the sky asks the Viking "Any Night Furies?"

"None so far."

"Good"

Astrid runs into a forge, throws on an apron, and is greeted by her mentor, who just so happens to be missing a hand and a leg

"Oh nice of you to join the party. I thought you'd been carried off." Her mentor says.

"Who, me? Come on, I'm way to muscular for their taste." Astrid replies, jokingly, as she lifts a hammer. "They wouldn't know what to do with all this." She adds, flexing.

"Well, they need toothpicks, don't?" Her mentor replies changing his hand to a hammer

Astrid opens the window to the forge, only to be greeted by Vikings shoving weapons in her face.

She takes them, struggling to carry them.

The meathead with attitude and the interchangeable hands is Gobber.

I've been his apprentice since I was little.

Well, littler.

Astrid takes the weapons and puts them on a heater, quickly heating them up.

Meanwhile, Stoick is gathering men near a watch tower.

"Move to the lower defenses. We'll counterattack with the catapults."

A house was soon set on fire.

See? Old village, lots and lots of new houses.

Another house was on fire near the forge.

"Fire!"

"Alright let's go!" said a nasally voice.

Astrid new that voice from anywhere. As she was in the forge she had a clear view of what was happening.

A group of five teens start working together to put out the fire.

Oh, and that's Fishlegs,

Said viking was a tall and chubby viking with blonde hair, a small helmet, and a nerdy guy. The only reason he doesn't get picked on is his size.

Snotlout,

Snotlout was a short stubby viking who is Astrid's main bully. Either he picks on her or he hits on her, but she likes neither.

The twins:Ruffnut and Tuffnut,

The twins are Astrid's other bullies. Where they got their names are pretty easy to figure.

And…

An explosion is shot behind an auburn haired boy

Hiccup

The last viking in the group was Hiccup. It may not be the greatest name but for the people of Berk it struck fear into their minds. He was only a little bit taller than Astrid by a few inches. Although he looked scrawny he can lift and fight with an axe.

Astrid was head over heels in love with this guy but was oblivious to it.

As Hiccup and the other teens ran past the forge astrid was leaning out and looking at them, more specifically Hiccup.

Oh, their job is so much cooler

As Astrid started climbing out the window, Gobber grabbed her and pulled her back

"Oh come on. Let me out, please. I need to make my mark." Astrid whined.

"You've made plenty of marks, all in the wrong places." Gobber replied, lightly jabbing at her stomach.

"Please, two minutes. I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date."

"You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe." Gobber started listing, then grabbed a bola "You can't even throw one of these!"

Almost coincidentally, a viking grabbed the bola out of gobber's hand and threw it at a dragon.

"Ok, fine, but this," Astrid said, gesturing to her invention, The Mangler "will throw it for me." she said patting it. But as she did, it went off and hit a viking in the face, knocking him out.

"See? Now this right here is what I'm talking about!" Gobber scolded

"Mild calibration issue-" Astrid started.

"Astrid! If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons, you need to stop all…" Gobber gestured to all her "this." he finished.

"But you just pointed to all of me."

"Yes," Gobber said jabbing Astrid in the shoulder. "That's it! Stop being all of you."

"Ohh…"

"Oh, yes."

"You, sir, ar playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much raw Vikingness contained? There will be consequences!" Astrid said, half jokingly half seriously.

"I'll take my chances." Gobber said, deadpanned. "Sword. Shparpen. Now." He continued handing Astrid a sword, which she struggled to carry. She brought it over to the sharpener.

One day, I'll get out there.

Because killing a dragon…

Is everything around here.

A group of dragon start tearing apart a farm and stealing sheep.

A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed.

Another dragon start stealing fish.

Gronckles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a boyfriend.

Another dragon with two heads explode a house from the inside.

A Zippleback? Exotic. Two heads, twice the status.

On a watch tower, stoick and some other men were getting ready to fire the catapults.

"They found the sheep!" one of the men said.

"Concentrate fire over the lower bank." Stoick said, moving the catapult.

"Fire!"

The catapult hit a Nadder, knocking it out.

And then there's the Monstrous Nightmare.

Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire.

As Stoick looked over the watchtower, A monstrous Nightmare came out of nowhere and set itself on fire.

"Reload!" Stoick said twirling the hammer in his hand. "I'll take care of this."

Stoick hit the night twice before it even knew what hit him. But then Stoick saw something in the sky.

The Nightmare must have seen it too, because it scrambled away.

But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one's ever seen.

A loud screeching was heard.

We call it the…

"Night Fury!"

"Get Down!"

Just then, a shot of blue and purple hit the tower.

"Jump!" Stoick yelled as he jumped from the tower.

This thing never steal food, never shows itself and… another shot… never misses. No one has ever killed a Night Fury, which is why I'm going to be the first.

"Man the forge, Astrid. They need me out there," Gobber instructed, adjusting an axe on his arm. "Stay. Put. There." Astrid stared at him blankly. "You know what I mean."

And with that, he disappeared into the chaos with a battle cry.

As soon as Gobber was out of sight, Astrid took off her apron and threw it carelessly, to Thor only knows where, and grabbed The Mangler and ran out the door, ignoring all the attempts of Vikings telling her to get back inside.

After finding a quiet place outside the village, she set up The Mangler and aimed it towards the sky.

"Come on," she whispered. "Give me something to shoot at, give me something to shoot at,"

Just then, Astrid saw the stars disappearing as if something was in front of them. Soon after spotting it she heard the distinct screeching of the one, the only Night Fury.

And another tower was blasted. Testing her luck she shot a bola. She was kicked back by the force but as she got up she heard the screeching again and saw the dragon go down in the forest. Slowly a smile crept on her face.

"Whoa, I hit it?" she said, surprised. She jumped up in the air saying "Yes, I hit it! Did anybody see that?" she asked, turning around, to no one in particular.

Then, she heard a loud crash behind her. She cringed and slowly turned around only to become face-to-face with a Monstrous Nightmare.

"Except for you" she added.

Meanwhile, Stoick and some other men caught a couple of Deadly Nadders when they heard the scream of none other then Astrid. Stoick looked up to see the silhouette of and all too familiar girl. Close by, Hiccup facepalmed.

"Do not let them escape!" Stoick ordered before running after Astrid.

Astrid was dodging the shots of fire before hiding behind a pole. As she looked over one side of the pole, the dragon came around the other side.

Just as it was about to fire, Stoick came out of nowhere and knocking the dragon away.

The dragon tried firing but only a weak flame came out.

"You're all out." Stoick said darkly before punching the dragon until it flew away.

Oh, and there's one more thing you need to know

The pole soon fell down revealing the scrawny girl standing behind. Astrid smiled nervously.

The pole kept crashing into things and Astrid cringed.

"Sorry, dad." Astrid said, not looking her father in the eyes.

Yep, you heard right. Stoick 'the vast' Haddock was Astrid's Father.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's chapter 2! Hope you like it. Chapter 3 should be out soon.**

**Chapter 2**

All the Vikings gathered around and watched as their sheep and fish were being carried away by dragons.

Soon after, Astrid had the courage to look at her dad.

"Ok, but I hit a Night Fury."

Then Stoick grabbed her by the shoulder and started dragging her to their house.

"Whooooaaa! It's not like the last few times, dad." she whined. "I mean, I really actually hit it! You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot. It went down just off Raven's Point, let's get a search-"

"Stop!" Her father yelled which shut her up immediately. "Just… stop. Every time you step outside, disaster falls! Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter's almost here and I have an entire village to feed!"

"Eh, between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding, don't you think?"

As Astrid said this, some of the villagers patted their stomachs in offense.

"This isn't a joke, Astrid! Ugh, why can't you follow the simplest orders?"

"I-I can't stop myself, I see a dragon, and I have to just kill it!" Astrid said gesturing with her hands. "You know, it's who I am dad."

"Oh, you're many things Astrid, but a dragon killer is not one of them."

Astrid just simply stared at the ground with anger and sadness.

"Get back to the house." Stoick ordered. "Make sure she gets there." he told Gobber. "I have her mess to clean up." he added.

Gobber lightly slapped astrid on the side of the head to bring her back to reality. She started walking to her house on the hill.

As they were walking back, the other teens of berk started making fun of her.

Ruffnut was just laughing as her twin, Tuffnut, said "Quite the performance."

And of course Snotlout said "I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped."

Hiccup and Fishlegs, of course said nothing, mainly because Fishlegs was actually Astrid's friend and Hiccup never acknowledged her.

"Thank you, thank you," Astrid said sarcastically. "I was trying."

As Gobber walked past Snotlout, he knocked him to the ground which caused the twins to laugh even more.

"I really did hit one." Astrid said turning around to face Gobber at the doorstep of her house.

"Sure you did…" Gobber said deadpanned.

"He never listens!"

"Well, it runs in the family…"

"And when he does it's always with this disappointed scowl like someone skimmed all the meat in his sandwich," Astrid continued before doing her best impression of Stoick. "Excuse me, barmaid! I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring! I ordered an extra strong girl with strong attitude, extra strength and glory on the side! This here, this is a talking fishbone!"

"No, you're thinking about his all wrong. It's not so much what you look like, it's what's inside he can't stand." Gobber replied, trying to cheer Astrid up but failing miserably.

Astrid stared blankly before saying "Thank you for summing that up."

"Look, the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you're not."

"I just want to be like you guys." Astrid sagged and entered her house.

Satisfied that the girl was in her house, Gobber headed back down to help Stoick, unaware that Astrid slipped out the back door.

Meanwhile, in the Meade Hall, Stoick gathered the vikings about a trip to the dragons nest.

"Either we finish them or they'll finish us! It's the only way we'll be rid of them," Stoick explained. "If we find the nest and destroy the nest, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home!" he stabbed a dagger into a map. "One more search before the ice sets in."

"Those ships never come back!" someone protested.

"We're Vikings - it's an occupational hazard," Stoick retaliated. "Now, who's with me?" nothing could be heard but people mumbling excuses.

"Alright then - those who stay get to look after Astrid."

The chief's answer was almost immediate - everyone raised their hands.

"Aye, that's more like it." Stoick grinned.

"Alright, I'll pack my undies." Gobber said, finishing his drink.

"No, I need you to stay and train some new recruits," Stoick instructed. Gobber could already tell where this conversation was going.

"Oh right and while I'm busy, Astrid can cover the store. Molten steel; razor-sharp blades; plenty of time to herself… what could possibly go wrong?

"What am I going to do with her, Gobber?" Stoick sighed, sitting down.

"Put her in training with the others," Gobber replied.

"No, I'm serious!"

"So am I!"

"She'd be killed before you let the first dragon out of its cage!"

"Oh, you don't know that."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't!"

"Listen," Stoick said, standing up. "You know what she's like, from the time she could crawl, she's been… different. She doesn't listen, she has the attention span of a sparrow. I take her fishing and he goes hunting for… for trolls!"

"Trolls exist!" Gobber retaliated. "They steal your socks, but only the left ones. What's with that?"

"When I was a boy…" Stoick started.

"Here we go," Gobber said.

"… My father told me to bang my head against a rock and I did it. I thought it was crazy but I didn't question him and do you know what happened?"

"You got a headache?"

"That rock split in two. It taught me what a Viking could do, Gobber. They could crush mountains; level forests; tame seas! Even as a boy, I knew what I was, what I had to become." He paused to sit down. "Astrid is not that girl."

"You can't stop her, Stoick. You can only prepare her. I know it sounds hopeless but the truth, you won't always be around to protect her. She's going to get out there again - she's probably out there now!"

Stoick sighed, realizing Gobber was right. Maybe he should give Astrid a chance.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_A dragon will always go for the kill_

"So, why didn't you?" Astrid wondered out loud as she picked up the remainder of the bola that trapped the Night Fury.

She put it down and started walking in the direction where the Night Fury went, hoping it was still here.

Making her way through the forest, she came up on a cove.

"Well, this is stupid." She sighed in defeat, not seeing the Night Fury, and turned around to head back when something caught her eye.

It was a black dragon scale. She picked it up felt that it was smooth. As she was examining it, a black shape shot right in front of her and was trying to get out. Since it couldn't get out, it flew back down and shot a blast in frustration.

Astrid quickly took out her note book and drew the Night Fury.

"Why don't you just… fly away?" she asked to no one particular. But then she saw its tailfin.

The left side was missing.

She rubbed her arm on the drawing to erase the left tailfin.

The dragon flew up again and tried getting but failing. When it hit the ground, it got up and walked over to a pond. The Night Fury looked at the water and saw two fish swimming around. It quickly tried to catch both but they swam away.

Astrid sat back in shock, think that she just saw a Night Fury and about its tail, and she dropped her pencil.

The sudden noise got the Night Fury's attention and it looked at her.

But Astrid wasn't afraid. She wasn't frightened or even nervous. She was…

Curious?

She tilted her head to the side. The Night Fury mimicked her action.

"Right, where did Hiccup go wrong today?" Gobber asked the teens at supper in the Meade Hall that evening. Astrid arrived late soaking wet due to the pouring rain outside.

"I mistimed my somersault dive," Hiccup explained. "It was sloppy and threw off my reverse tumble."

"Yeah, we noticed." Tuffnut grimaced.

"No - you were great!" Snotlout argued, sucking up to his cousin. "That was so Hiccup."

"He's right," Gobber put in, referring to Hiccup. "You have to be tough on yourself." Astrid grabbed her meal and sat at a table close enough for her to hear the conversation.

"Where did Astrid go wrong today?" _Dammit _she thought. She was hoping she wouldn't get noticed.

"Uh, she showed up," Tuffnut snickered.

"She didn't get eaten," Ruffnut added.

"She's _never _where she should be." Astrid had a feeling Hiccup wasn't referring only to training.

"_Thank _you, Hiccup." Gobber nodded. "You have to live and breathe this stuff" He brushed his meal aside and slammed down a book. "The Dragon Manual - everything we know about every dragon we know of." Thunder rumbled outside. Astrid nearly thought they were under attack. "No attacks tonight," Gobber noted. "Study up."

"Wait, you mean _read_?" Tuffnut groaned.

"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut added.

"Yeah, why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you about?" Snotlout agreed, slamming his fist on the table.

"Oh, I've read it, like, seven times!" Fishlegs said enthusiastically. "There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water in your face and there's this other one that buries itself for, like…"

"Yeah, that sounds great," Tuffnut interrupted. "There was a chance I was going to read it…"

"But now…" Ruffnut finished.

"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." Snotlout sneered, leaving the hall, followed closely by Fishlegs and the twins. Astrid approached Hiccup.

"So, I guess we'll share?" she shrugged. She honestly had no idea how Hiccup couldn't tell she had a crush on him. Hiccup pushed the book towards her.

"Read it." he snapped, leaving the table. Astrid was a bit surprised. She didn't take Hiccup for the reading type.

"Oh, all mine, then," She muttered. "Yeah, so I guess, I'll see you…" the doors slammed. "… tomorrow." she finished.

Sighing, Astrid fetched a candle from the cupboard and settled down to read.

"_Dragon Classifications: Strike class; Fear Class; Mystery class," _Astrid read aloud. Skipping the contents, she took a look at the first dragon. "_Thunderdrum: This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight,_" Gulping, Astrid turned the page. "_Timberjack: This gigantic creature has razor-sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight. Scauldron: Sprays scalding water at its victims. Extremely dangerous…_ah!" Astrid yelped as a flash of lightning, accompanied by another thunder flash. _Come on, _she thought. _It's just a book. _"_Changewing: Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight._" There were the familiars: Gronckles, Zipplebacks, etc. "_Boneknapper… Whispering Death…_" It might only be her, but things seem to be getting worse. "_Burns its victims…buries its victims…chokes its victims…turns its victims inside out…Extremely dangerous…Extremely dangerous…Kill on sight…Kill on sight…Kill on sight…"_

Isn't there one that is not dangerous? Then the last page caught Astrid's eye.

"_Night Fury,_" She read. The page was blank except for some runes on the bottom. "_Speed: Unknown. Size: Unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: Hide and pray it does not find you_."

She took out her drawing of the Night Fury and compared it to the description.

Surely they couldn't be talking about the same thing, right?

"I can almost smell them," Stoick muttered from his flag ship. "They're close." He was leading the latest search for the dragon's nest. "Steady!" The boats entered the fog. Seconds later, a silhouette of a dragon was seen attacking the ships.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Hey, I just happened to notice that the book has almost nothing on the Night Fury." Astrid pointed out to Gobber in the Arena. "Is there, like, a sequel or maybe a pamphlet?" A blast melted off her spear's head. She hadn't really been paying attention.

"Focus Astrid!" Gobber yelled. "You're not even trying."

Astrid found herself face to face with a Deadly Nadder. A maze was set up because Gobber wanted to add further challenge. She scrambled to the left then the right then to the left again and finally choosing to go right.

"Today is all about attack." Gobber announced from the stands. "Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter."

Fishlegs ran right into the Nadder's line of sight and the spines from its tail was shot at him.

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" He yelped, bringing his shield up to prevent from being shot.

"Look for its blind spot," Gobber shrugged. He seemed bored. "Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and strike!"

The twins seemed to have found the dragon's blind spot - right in front of its beak. From being behind Tuffnut, Ruffnut could smell her brother hygiene.

"Ugh," Ruffnut gagged. "Do you ever bath?"

"You don't like?" Tuffnut sneered. "Go and get your own blind spot."

"How 'bout I give you one?" Ruffnut snapped.

The Nadder must have noticed their argument and the twins barely had time to jump out of the way before fire was shot at them.

"Blind spot - yes. Deaf spot - not so much." Gobber shrugged.

"So, how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?" Astrid called.

"No one's ever seen one and lived to tell the tail," Gobber sighed. "NOW GET IN THERE!"

"Yes, yes, I know," Astrid groaned. "But, hypothetically…" she was shut up by a hushing nose. It was Hiccup. He gestured for her to get down and she obliged. The Deadly Nadder was right around the corner. Timing it just right, Hiccup somersaulted away followed by Snotlout. Astrid tried to mimic the action but the shield weighed her down. Again, it was a miracle that she didn't get eaten. The Nadder found Hiccup who was preparing to attack when Snotlout intervened.

"Watch out, cous," He warned. "I got this." He his mace at the dragon and missing it by miles. Hiccup rolled his eyes and darted back into the maze.

"The sun was in my eyes, Hiccup!" Snotlout groaned. "What do you want me to do? Block out the sun? I can do that, I just don't have the time…" Hiccup wasn't listening after that.

"Has anyone ever come across a Night Fury napping?" Astrid asked, not paying attention to her surroundings. Hiccup was trying to get away from the Nadder and was headed for Astrid.

"Astrid!" Gobber shouted. Astrid whipped her head around to see Hiccup jumping off the top of the maze which the Nadder was knocking over.

"Astrid!" Hiccup yelled. As the dust cleared, you could see Hiccup on top of Astrid, his sword stuck in her shield.

"Ooh, love on the battlefield." Ruffnut cooed. Hiccup cursed under her breath and struggled to get up.

"He could do better," Tuffnut shrugged.

"Here, why don't you…" Astrid tried to speak but Hiccup just stood up frustrated.

The Nadder was headed their way and Hiccup had no weapons. Thinking fast, and ignoring Astrid's yelp of pain, he yanked his sword and her shield out of her grip and swung it at the Nadder, bashing it against the head.

"Well done, Hiccup." Gobber congratulated. Hiccup turned around to Astrid, panting, his face red with anger.

"Is this some kind of a joke to you?" He growled. "Well, I've got a newsflash for you. Our parents war is about to become ours." He pointed his sword at her. "Figure out which side your on." The teens left, leaving Astrid thinking which side she should be on.

* * *

Whilst the teens began combat training in the village, Astrid ran to the cove, fish and shield in hand. Peeking through a small gap, she couldn't see the Night Fury so she tossed the fish in. Still nothing. Sighing, Astrid edged forward through the gap but her shield was to big. After trying to get it loose, she decided to forget about it and she went in.

She picked up the fish, and started to slowly walk in the cove. Little did she know that she was being watched.

From behind a boulder, the Night Fury was watching her, figuring out what to do with her. Slowly, it came into view. Astrid gulped and held out the fish. It was about to take it when it growled. At first, she was confused but then realized she still had her dagger. She took it out and dropped it on the ground. The Night Fury gestured for her to kick it in the lake. She did, pulling off a pretty fancy maneuver with her foot. Then the Night Fury did something different.

It perked up, almost like a cat. She held out the fish and it stalked over.

It opened its mouth but something was off.

"Huh, toothless…" She noted. "I could've sworn you had…" The dragon's gummy mouth was suddenly filled with razor-sharp teeth and took the fish. "…teeth." she squeaked. The Night Fury advanced, causing Astrid to fall backwards onto a boulder. "Uh, uh. No, no, no. I don't…I don't have anymore." She whispered. The dragon made a few weird noises. Oh no, no, no…yep. The dragon regurgitated half the fish into Astrid's lap. "Eww." She groaned. The dragon then leaned back and sat on its hind legs and silence fell on them.

After a few moments of silence, the dragon gestured to the fish. Astrid looked at the fish and then the dragon. _Oh Shit_ she thought. She slowly lifted the fish to her mouth and took a bite. The taste was so bad it made actual crap look good.

She held the rest of the fish out to the dragon but it just made a swallowing noise. _You've got to be kidding me _she thought. She sagged and swallowed the leftover fish that was in her mouth. _Gods, this was worse than Hiccup's cooking_ she thought back to the day Hiccup made, or at least tried to make, stew.

Astrid shuddered and the dragon licked its lips. Astrid grinned her signature lopsided grin and then…

…The dragon did a gummy smile back.

Astrid slowly stood up and stretched out her hand. This action made the dragon uncomfortable and it bared its teeth and growled before it shot off to the other side of the cove to rest.

Astrid followed and watched it burn a warm spot into the ground. It saw her and she waved. Annoyed by the vikings' persistence, the Night Fury covered its face with its tail. Astrid edged closer and tried to touch its tail, but before she could the dragon lifted its tail. She stood up walking away as the dragon walked the other direction.

Later, Astrid was drawing the Night Fury's face in the ground. She was clearly bored. Feeling a breath against her neck she sped up, avoiding eye contact with the dragon behind her. The Night Fury disappeared for a second but when she turned around, she saw the dragon had a huge tree branch in its mouth and it was drawing on the ground. It was twirling and twisting and even glanced at Astrid occasionally.

When it was done, Astrid looked around. She couldn't be sure what it was, it just looked like a bunch of scribbles. She started walking around until suddenly the dragon growled. Seeing where her foot was she lifted it up. The Night Fury perked up. Smiling to herself, Astrid made the dragon perk up and growl alternatively before she stepped over the line. She started walking around, placing her feet in between the gaps.

She felt so free. Like everything in the world was right. This felt like she was dancing. It felt like magic…and dancing…to her it felt like she was…flying.

When she felt air on her neck she turned around and was face-to-face with the Night Fury. hesitantly she lifted her hand to the dragon face but it growled at her again. Shutting her eyes and turning her head away, she lifted her hand again, just inches away from its face. The dragon hesitant. Could he trust this human? Slowly he put his nose on the hand. Feeling scales on her hand, Astrid turned her head to see the dragon. The Night Fury pulled back and snorted before flying off.

"Oh my Thor." Astrid said softly. She couldn't believe it. She had touched a Night Fury. but the Night Fury needed a name. She couldn't just keep calling it 'dragon' or 'it'. It just didn't feel right. Then she thought of what she first said to him.

Toothless


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

That evening, Gobber and the new recruits having dinner around a campfire. Gobber was telling them the story of how he lost his arm and his leg, which Astrid has heard a million times but she could've sworn it was different every time. She should only know- she's been his apprentice since she was 6 years.

"…And with one twist, he swallowed it whole!" He said. "I could see the look on his face - I was delicious! He must have spread the word because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg!"

"Isn't it weird to think that your hand and leg was inside a dragon?" Fishlegs muttered. "Like, as if your mind was still in control of it? You could kill the dragon from the inside by crushing its heart or something." the teens all just stared at him until Snotlout spoke up.

"I swear, I'm so angry right now!" he growled, glaring at his chicken. "I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot! I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I see…with my face."

Astrid inwardly scoffed. _There's no way he could do that_ she thought.

"Uh-uh," Gobber shook his head. "It's the wings and tails you want! If it can't fly, it can't get away." Then he said something that got Astrid attention. "A downed dragon is a dead dragon!"

Astrid froze.

She grounded Toothless! She knew she had to do something.

"Right, I'm off to bed." Gobber yawned. "You should be too. Tomorrow we move onto the big boys slowly, but surely, making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare! But who will get the honor of killing it?" the teens smiled in excitement.

"It's gonna be me," Tuffnut snickered. "It's my destiny, see?" he showed everyone a mark on his shoulder.

"Your mom let you get a tattoo?" Fishlegs asked, bewildered. Hiccup glanced at Astrid's seat but noticed something - she wasn't there. He saw her figure running down the stairs. Then again, if she wants to leave the conversation, he isn't going to stop her.

"It's not a tattoo - it's a birthmark." Tuffnut corrected.

"Uh ok, I've been stuck with you since birth and that has never been there before." Ruffnut muttered.

"Yeah it has, you just have never seen me from my left side until now."

In the middle of the night, Astrid was in the forge and took out the drawing of Toothless. She drew the left tail fin on the drawing.

"Never thought I'd be doing this." She muttered to herself.

Now, since she had grounded Toothless - she was going to make things right. And so, she got to work. With her brain, the forge resources and being able to stay up for all night, she began to work on a new tail fin.

The next morning, Astrid went down to the cove, with a basket hanging over her shoulder full of fish.

"Hey, Toothless," She called. "I brought breakfast - I hope you're hungry." She set the basket down pushed it over to reveal raw fish. "By Thor, that's disgusting." Toothless was examining the fish, looking for what was safe.

"So we've got salmon, some nice Icelandic cod, and a whole smoked eel." She listed. She didn't know what he'd like so she just got random stuff and stuffed it in. but at the mention of 'eel', Toothless growled and backed off.

Obviously confused, Astrid lifted up the eel, but Toothless almost ran away scared.

"No, no, no," She tossed the eel away. "Hey, it's ok. Yeah, I don't like eel either." with that Toothless began eating the fish while Astrid slowly crept around to his tail.

"That's it," She whispered. "That's it. I'll just be back here, minding my own business.

Putting the tail on was harder then Astrid anticipated, since Toothless kept moving his tail. In the end, she sat on his tail and put it on that way. Toothless felt the sudden weight and his wings and jaws dropped. Astrid, having finished putting on the tail, opened it up and examined it.

"Wow, I actually did something," She muttered. "Not bad, if it works…WOOOAAAHHH!" She screamed as Toothless took to the skies.

"Stupid dragon." Astrid muttered.

The balance went and they started to plummet into the pond. Thinking fast, Astrid opened up the tail and Toothless pulled up. Astrid couldn't believe it.

"Oh, my gods…it works!" She gasped turning Toothless back to Berk before he flied her out to nowhere.

"Yes - Yes, I did it!" She cried.

Toothless heard her and spotted her on his tail. He flicked her off into the pond but that made crash into same pond. Astrid was soaking wet but she couldn't care less.

"YEAH!"

* * *

"Wow, what happened to you?" Hiccup asked Astrid, as she was walking through the village, soaking wet.

"Did you fall from a cliff into the ocean or something?" He asked.

"Uh, w-well…I uh," Astrid was surprised - mainly because was Hiccup talking to her - he never even acknowledge. But the feeling was short lived when Hiccup just shrugged.

"You know what, never mind. Don't tell me - I don't really care. You better get ready for later."

"Why should I?" Astrid asked, dumbfounded. Hiccup just rolled his eyes.

"Don't you remember?" He scowled, lifting his sword over his soldier. "We're fighting the Hideous Zippleback today."

Astrid looked nervous but was struggling to hold back a grin, remembering she still had an eel in her pouch.


End file.
